Columbus schools outline ‘ethics hot line’ for whistle-blowers

Columbus school attendance scandal

Columbus City Schools employees -- and perhaps others in schools throughout the state -- are accused of falsifying students' records to improve their schools' standing on state report cards. Read the complete series.

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The state auditor’s investigation into data-scrubbing at Columbus City Schools hasn’t been
released, but one of the outgrowths of the scandal is about to go online — a new “ethics hot line”
that allows employees to anonymously report wrongdoing.

District officials are learning how the new system will work, and it is expected to be rolled
out by the end of next month, district Internal Auditor Carolyn Smith reported to the district’s
audit committee yesterday.

“If somebody wants to call in or somebody wants to get online and report something, they’ll have
another tool to do that,” Smith said.

People calling the hot line will talk to an operator who will take their information and send a
report to the district. While some items may go directly to department heads, Smith will be able to
see all the reports and follow up on what departments did to investigate, she said. Some reports
will come directly to her.

“If it’s like (a human resources) matter not involving a particular HR person, there’s a person
who is dedicated to look into that,” Smith said. More serious allegations “may come to my office.
... I’ll be the gatekeeper. I’ll know everything that comes in, but I won’t be the one who’s
actually following up on everything.

“I have access to see everything” submitted to the hot line, Smith said.

Smith proposed the hot line, along with a whistle-blower protection policy for district
employees, in December 2012, when she released her own findings that district officials changed
student data in an apparent bid to make it look like schools were doing better than they were.

Then-Superintendent Gene Harris disagreed that the internal auditor should have sole oversight
over the hot line and said district administrators should be involved with screening tips. Smith
countered that her office is more impartial and better suited to handling the tip line.

Harris first proposed that employees be required to report suspected wrongdoing to their
immediate supervisor or to a tip line handled by district administrators. The final policy allows
employees to choose between notifying their supervisors, using an online reporting tool, phoning an
anonymous hot line or submitting reports to the internal auditor or state auditor.

In other Audit Committee business yesterday, two members questioned large end-of-year surpluses
in three of the district’s self-funded operations: adult education; the “Latchkey” after-school
program; and WCBE, the district’s public radio station. Each ended last year with six-figure
carryovers, leading committee members Robert Puccio and Charles Saunders to question why that money
isn’t being spent or the fees that fund the programs aren’t being lowered.

Adult education ended last year with almost $750,000 in the bank; Latchkey, $458,000; and WCBE,
$479,000, according to documents reviewed at the meeting.